1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a connector connecting a plurality of terminals with a plurality of mating terminals.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, there has been known a connector including a female housing that holds a plurality of female terminals, and a male housing that holds a plurality of male terminals to be connected to the female terminals respectively, wherein the female housing and the male housing are fitted to each other so that the female terminals and the male terminals can be connected to each other respectively (for example, see JP-A-2013-247053).
A connector 50 disclosed in JP-A-2013-247053 is formed by fitting a female housing 53 and a male housing 56 to each other, as shown in FIG. 4. In the female housing 53, a plurality of cylindrical terminal reception chambers 52 are formed. Female terminals 51 are received in the terminal reception chambers 52 respectively. The male housing 56 holds male terminals 55 connected to a bus bar 54. The male terminals 55 are formed by insert molding. Each of the female housing 53 and the male housing 56 is formed of resin. The female terminals 51 inserted into the terminal reception chambers 52 are engaged with not-shown lances extended into the terminal reception chambers 52. Thus, the female terminals 51 are retained in predetermined positions of the terminal reception chambers 52 respectively. A hood portion 57 projecting like a rectangular cylinder from one end side of the terminal reception chambers 52 is provided in the female housing 53.
On the other hand, in the male housing 56, the male terminals 55 to be inserted and connected to the female terminals 51 are retained by insert molding. The male terminals 55 are connected to the bus bar 54. A body portion 59 is formed in a base portion 58 of the male housing 56 so as to be capped with the hood portion 57. A ring-like waterproof packing 60 is mounted between the body portion 59 and the hood portion 57. In the male housing 56, plate-like permanent lock arms 61 are formed to extend from the left and right side surfaces of the body portion 59 toward the outer circumferential surface of the hood portion 57. Lock grooves 62 are provided in the permanent lock arms 61 respectively. In the female housing 53, lock protrusions 63 are formed on the opposite side surfaces of the hood portion 57 correspondingly to the lock grooves 62. A pair of protruding walls 64 are provided on the top and bottom of each lock protrusion 63 so as to guide the permanent lock arms 61 inward respectively.
In the connector 50 configured thus, the female housing 53 and the male housing 56 are fitted to each other. When each permanent lock arm 61 is placed between the paired protruding walls 64 at the fitting time, the female housing 53 is made close to the male housing 56 while being guided along the lock groove 62 of the permanent lock arm 61. When the distal end portion of the permanent lock arm 61 gets over the lock protrusion 63, the lock protrusion 63 is engaged with the lock groove 62. The male terminals 55 are thus inserted and connected to the female terminals 51. In this state, the fitting of the two housings is completed.
In the male housing 53 disclosed in JP-A-2013-247053, the male terminals 55 are retained to protrude ahead of the base portion 58 of the male housing 56. Therefore, when the female housing 53 inclined to its regular fitting direction is made close to the male housing 56, the hood portion 57 is not guided by the permanent lock arms 61 but may touch the male terminals 55 to cause twisting (for example, damage such as deformation).
As for this point, a hood portion surrounding the male terminals 55 is provided in the body portion 59 of the male housing 56 so that the hood portion can extend ahead of the male terminals 55. When such a structure is used, the hood portion 57 of the female housing 53 can be prevented from touching the male terminals 55. However, when the hood portion of the male housing 56 is formed to be long in this manner, the total length of the connector 50 increases. Thus, there arises another problem that the connector 50 may increase in size.